quick update
Phew -- camps are over! No more 80+ work weeks including weekends! I'll post some pictures soon - it was a great experience being director. Initially I was ready for it to be done, but now I (along with all the other camps peeps) are having withdrawal and don't like being back on our teams. It's really rough being back to all that drama and mistrust and unprofessionalism. I'm having a hard time adjusting. Give me a team of four people dedicated to keeping kids off the streets, with a common purpose and work ethic, and I'd take the long camp days back.
My sister has accepted UDel's grad school offer - full scholarship and a large stipend. We went down to visit the campus -- it's beautiful!
My other (middle older) sister is still in Nepal but is coming back in May. My eldest sister just got back from Lisbon (I was so jealous) - I need to email her to see how her husband liked it.
After camps we had a long weekend and we went to Assateague Island off Delaware/Maryland, where there are wild ponies and lots of other wildlife. Pics to follow. It was a great time, although really cold.
I interviewed for the Peace Corps in New York last Tuesday. Had lunch with my boyfriend and his brother who works on Wall Street. Just accepted a nomination for September, in what looks to be Togo, focusing on community development (with an emphasis on girls' education and empowerment) -- but seeing as it's already April, who knows if I'd be able to meet all the medical deadlines, etc., to really leave by then. Just taking it one day at a time and trying to not stress :-) Trying to keep my options open...
Only about 70+ days left of AmeriCorps. Wow, almost a year has gone by? I'm starting to get burned out, mainly because of aforesaid team unprofessionalism and drama, but I'm looking for ways to get reinspired. Seeing some of those li'l kids during camps really brightened my days, though.
One of my kids at high school got transferred when I wasn't there. (With camps I was out of regular service for a lot of days.) Got into one too many fights. I was really sad because she always had a smile for me and every since I worked with her she started getting passing grades in reading! (That's right, in high school and couldn't read. She was also from Liberia, which was its own set of problems.) I really wanted to help her get the rest of her grades up, but now she's been given to another school. I felt stunned, like "I leave for a couple days and they throw her out?" I know she had a lot of strikes against her and I didn't think they were unjustified -- I was just sad I didn't get to say goodbye. Hopefully at her new high school there will be someone to help her.
I'm excited to be back at Pitt for the summer -- I will get to see my amazing friends from Duq!
That's all for now. "Peace out my homies" as I say when I leave work at the high school.